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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 16, 2007

James Blake

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

Q. Is twice enough?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah. I don't want to see him across the net. He's a great player. It's tough. I really wish that would have been a second-week match because he's playing I think well enough to be in the second week and to be top 10 again like he's been. He's a great champion. He fights hard for every point, every match. He competed hard today.
Like I said, I wish it was a second-week match. He's a great player. Definitely I think one of the toughest if not the toughest floater in the draw.

Q. How weird is that to play somebody again so soon?
JAMES BLAKE: It's pretty strange, yeah. I think that's part of the reason I was so excited at the end of the match. I know it's a tough situation. I know after he lost -- after I won in the Sydney finals, a lot of the pressure is off him. He can come in here and just feel like he can go after his shots a little more, be a little more aggressive, have really nothing to lose.
To have that feeling coming into a Grand Slam, in a first round, where that guy's got nothing to lose, a lot of guys, when they're playing me now, which is a good thing and bad thing, they feel they have nothing to lose, but not many of them were also No. 1 in the world. They have absolutely no fear of beating anyone in the world.
It was a tough situation. I knew going in it was going to be a different match mentally to not get past that, not get ahead of myself. That was something I was really happy about that. I didn't want to get up a set, think he was just going to crumble, think anything like that, ahead of myself. I did that. I'm really happy I was able to do that.

Q. Do you have a goal set for yourself this tournament?
JAMES BLAKE: No, I never set those kind of goals 'cause, uhm, like I said, Carlos has been No. 1 in the world. He could have come out, played lights-out, blown me off the court. Luckily he didn't.
I don't set kind of goals that I don't feel like I can be in control of. I try to get better. I'm going to prepare for every single match as well as I can. The rest I'll do my best to execute it as well as I can, see what happens at the end. Hopefully I'll be here talking to you guys all the way at the end of the tournament.
If I don't, as long as I leave here with my head held high, saying I did my best. If that means losing in the second round but I did my best, if that means holding up a trophy in the end, saying I did my best, I'll be proud.

Q. Your best is a lot better than it was two years ago?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I think my best is a lot better than two years ago, and I think that's basically the validation that I've accomplished my goal. I guess my goals are always to keep getting better. That's something I feel like I can control. I have been getting better. I feel now as opposed to two years ago, I'm a better player. I would have beaten the heck out of James Blake two years ago. I'm happy about that (smiling).
Hopefully at the end of this tournament I'll be a better player and at the end of this year I'll be a better player. That's the only goal I kind of try to set.

Q. Last year you won Sydney, played well, lost to Robredo. How to a void that this year, not having a letdown in a match when you come up against good players the rest of the tournament?
JAMES BLAKE: I think I'm pretty I guess lucky now looking back on just a few hours ago, the fact that I got a great player in the first round, that I got through. I tested myself. Along with being a better player right now than I was two years ago, I'm better mentally. So hopefully from what happened last year, I can learn from that, learn that there's no way to ever take anyone lightly, there's no reason to ever get ahead of yourself or start thinking into the second week or anything like that. I'm thinking about my next match. If I come up against a great player, I'll show them that respect and do my best to hopefully play great tennis and come out on top.
There's still the chance I could come out flat one day. I hope it doesn't happen, but it's possible. I'm looking forward to showing I can go all the way through a Grand Slam without having a match like that. Maybe my best this year will be good enough to get me further than I've ever been. We'll see.

Q. Do you think you've improved your game because you played in Shanghai?
JAMES BLAKE: I think that helped and I think that really helped my confidence, to know that I can beat those top players, that it's not a fluke that I've been beating -- I've been able to get wins over Nadal, Davydenko. First time I played Nalbandian, to beat him felt great to do in an arena where you know they're all just as excited to be there, just as excited to win matches, fighting their hearts out to win each match.
To go in there, play that well, it was a great feeling, a great end to the year. Obviously came up one match short. But Roger played just a little too good. It gives me confidence to know that I got there, then I proved I belonged there. Even though I kind of snuck in in the eighth spot, I proved that I belong there, I felt like.
To end the year, that's such a great feeling 'cause oftentimes you end the year with a loss. I still did end the year with a loss, but I felt really good about that week. It gave me a pretty good high to go into the off-season with, to feel like you've really earned that week or two you take off. You feel pretty good on the golf course after you ended the year that way.

Q. What suits your game or doesn't suit your game about Rebound Ace versus the DecoTurf at the US Open?
JAMES BLAKE: I think my second serve gets up a little higher. A lot of other guys' do, too. I feel like I'm pretty good about taking guys' second serves early. I try not to let it really eat me up, like let it get up too high on my backhand side or just kind of reacting to it too late. I feel like I take that a little bit out of other people's comfort zones and take time away from them.
I don't know, that might be it. Otherwise I generally play it pretty similar to the DecoTurf courts. I don't really adjust my game that much for the Rebound Ace except possibly the movement where I have to be much more careful with the sliding because I know this stuff is notorious for foot and ankle injuries. I'm trying to be careful to make sure nothing like that happens.

Q. You had to be pretty happy when you saw the draw that Federer wasn't on your side?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I have to admit, that was one thing I looked at, to see if I was on that top half or bottom half. Definitely wasn't too happy to see Moya right there.
The way he's playing these days, it is just a daunting task when you see him in your part of the draw. I don't want to get that far ahead of myself to start thinking about if he's in my quarter or section. But when Ljubicic passed me to make me a 5 seed instead of a 4 seed, that was the first thing I thought of, was, All right, now I can be in my quarter, hope for a little bit of luck.
I got to worry about these other guys, not just Roger. Andy helped us a little maybe to prove that he's human last week, even if it is an exhibition. Andy got so close in Shanghai. Now to maybe post a win is maybe a little bit of a spirit booster for the guys in the locker room, to know that it's possible.
I think Andy's playing great tennis right now. I'm pretty happy he's not on my side either the way he's playing. I got to just worry about the guys that are on my side. The next one is Luczak or Kuznetsov. Those are the ones I have to be concerned with.

Q. Talking about Kuznetsov, these young guys, Americans have been making some noise here in the first round. What do you make of that?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, it's great to see some guys getting through quallies. Kuznetsov is a good friend of mine, trained with me at Saddle Brook a few times. I was shocked, first time I hit with him, he was about 15 years old, he was just actually beating up on me and Mardy in baseline games. I was just wondering who the heck this kid is. He was playing great.
Since then he dealt with a terrible accident, has come back so strong, when he broke his leg in a car accident. Now he's playing great tennis again. That's a testament to how hard he worked, how hard he did his rehab. So I think his level of improvement is going very quickly, which is great to see. He's a hard worker, a really nice kid. Of course, all that will go out the window if I play him in the second round, I won't think of him as a nice kid for those few hours.
Mike Russell, another real good friend of mine, such a hard worker, dealt with a million injuries. I don't get that excited to watch too many tennis matches, but I'm excited to watch him play Lleyton Hewitt tonight. They play very similar. Mike has been playing unbelievable lately. I've hit with him a few times when he's playing that well. I think it's going to be a fun match to watch. I'm excited. Hope the nerves don't get to him or anything. He's another player that can be dangerous here - anywhere else throughout this year if he stays healthy.

Q. What is your take on Sam?
JAMES BLAKE: Sam had another big win yesterday. He's a great player. Yeah, didn't even mention him. He's probably our brightest star right now in terms of coming up. His serve is huge. His forehand is huge. It's amazing. The kid cracks me up every single time when I look at him. He was going out to the court yesterday, had a huge hole in his shoe. Sam, change that. Got new shoes in the locker room. Oh, no, it's fine, it will be okay. I'll change my serve a little. Sam, come on.
It's so funny. He's oblivious, just happy to go out there and play. I think as he gets better and better, kind of becomes a little more professional, maybe he shouldn't, I don't know, because it's working great so far, but it's so funny to see he's basically like -- I mean, it shocks me sometimes to think he's just out of high school, to think how immature I was at that age. He's much more advanced than I was. But how much better he's going to get.

Q. He had a hole in the sole of his shoe?
JAMES BLAKE: No, like in the top. The top had kind of split open. From the back end, he comes over on it too much. His toe was practically popping out. Man, it's so funny to think he's only 18 years old, 19 years old, how much better he's going to get.
I'm looking forward to that, too, to see how much better he's going to get. I think the sky's the limit with him.

Q. What is your take with the council, the roof policy? Are the players happy? Roof is open, everybody else is stopped on the outside courts?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, that's tricky. In seeing some of the matches, I watched some of those matches, Nalbandian with Ginepri out there today. It's tough in that kind of heat. I saw Robby come off the court. He won. Looked like he had just been through the ringer with how hot it was out there, how tough it is to play five sets in that kind of heat.
I'm thinking that maybe at some point there's got to be a way to stop a match in that kind of heat. It's great with the roof. The technology here, have two roofs, is amazing. I think at some point we're going to run into trouble where it gets serious. I'd hate to see someone become not a casualty, but someone go down, go to the emergency room, be in real tough situations over a tennis match. We need to think about people's health I think and hopefully find a way to maybe stop some of those matches.
At the end of some of those matches, I feel like it's not about tennis. We're here for a tennis tournament, not to see who can last in the heat longer.

End of FastScripts

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